


Pawneekmon GO!

by sebh_writing



Category: Parks and Recreation
Genre: I saw a post on tumblr and I was iNSPIRED, Other, Pokemon GO - Freeform, here you go
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-07-11
Updated: 2016-07-11
Packaged: 2018-07-22 20:31:54
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 953
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7452994
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sebh_writing/pseuds/sebh_writing
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Foot traffic is down in Pawnee parks post Brexit, and Leslie has no idea what to do.  That is, she has no idea what to do until Tom comes running into City Hall screaming something about a new game called Pokemon GO.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Pawneekmon GO!

**Author's Note:**

> Hi! Okay, so this is completely un-beta'd, and I wrote it in response to a tumblr post, but here you go! This is what I think Leslie's reaction would be to Pokemon GO being released. Enjoy!

Leslie sits at her desk on the third floor of City Hall.  She has been Regional Parks director for a year, and unfortunately, things have slowed down.  Foot traffic to national parks is down because of economic downturn due to Brexit (and though Ron is all for the UK leaving the European Union, claiming that they are “breaking down the bonds of oppressive government”, it doesn’t change the fact that the stock market has tanked temporarily), and Leslie is completely stumped.  She has tried everything--bar-b-qs in parks, regional ad campaigns with quirky songs, everything.  

Leslie types away at her computer, making a new list of ideas for increasing foot traffic to both the regional parks she is in charge of and the local parks like Ramsett and Sullivan Street Park.  She is completely engrossed in her work until she hears a familiar voice calling her name from the hallway of the third floor.

“Tom?” Leslie calls out.  “Is that you?”

Tom bursts through the doors of the Regional Parks office, rose gold iPhone 6S+ in hand, waving it about like a madman.

“Leslie!! You’ve got to see this!!”

Leslie stands from her desk.  “What’s going on, Tom?”

“It’s finally out!! It’s time!! I will be the very best!!” screams Tom.

“The best at what?” 

“Pokemon GO is finally out!!”   
  


Leslie pauses.  “Did you really come all the way from your restaurant just to tell me that a new app was out, Tom?”

Tom laughs.  “Well, as a former Parks and Rec employee and loyal friend, I thought this might be of great importance to you, Mrs. Knope.”

“And why is that?”

“Because you have to go to local landmarks and parks to catch Pokemon!  And, like, EVERYONE is playing it.”

Leslie gawks.  “Oh.  Oh my god.  Tom!  This is it!  This is how we fix it!! This is how we get more people to our parks!”

Tom husks.  “Leslie, I think you should take a ride to Ramsett Park and see what’s going on right now for yourself.

“Out of my way!” Leslie shrieks, pushing Tom clear out of the way. She can faintly hear him whining “Ow, my sholdie!” from her office as she runs to her car.

As she is driving to Ramsett Park, she notices that there are lots more children out walking then there was the previous day, all of them with their noses in their phones.   _ That’s odd _ , Leslie thinks, continuing her drive.

She pulls up to the parking lot in Ramsett Park, and gets out.  She can see about 40 people all gathered at the gazebo, but nothing is actually happening in it. What could it possibly be?   


“Excuse me,” she says, walking towards the crowd of teenagers swarming the gazebo, “My name is Leslie Knope.  I’m the regional director of Parks and Recreation for this area, could you please tell me what’s going on?”

A 12 year old girl with a Samsung phone bigger than her face turns to Leslie and shouts “There’s a Pokemon gym here!”

“A what now?”

“A Pokemon gym! And there’s one at the Sullivan Street park, and there’s a Pokestop AND a gym at the Smallest Park!  I’ve been walking around all day trying to catch Pokemon!”

Leslie gasps.  “You?  Walking around?  On purpose?  In  _ this _ town?”  Even though obesity rates have dropped since she was a city councilwoman, she hadn’t seen kids exercising of their own free will ever in Pawnee.

The girl laughs.  “Yeah! It’s awesome!”

Leslie’s eyes widen.  “Excuse me.”  She runs back to her car, driving back home to begin her research on this “Pokemon GO”.

* * *

 

“So,” Leslie says to Ben at the breakfast table, “after 13 straight hours of research, including watching 6 hours of Pokemon cartoons from the 90’s, I have come to a conclusion: we need to have a PokeCrawl.”

“A what?” Ben asks through a mouth-full of cereal.

“A PokeCrawl!  Like a bar crawl, only for Pokemon GO.  Like, we could have food at every park and have signs at every Pokestop in town, and then we could have all of the trainers in town go from park to park trying to catch Pokemon!  The city can pay for lure modules to be put on every stop in town, which would entice people to come outside because there would be so many Pokemon around!” Leslie says, losing her breath at the end, and panting a little.

“I think this is a great plan, Les.  This could really boost numbers for the month of July.”

“Perfect!  Great!  I’ll call Craig and we will get the ball rolling!” Leslie says, slamming down the rest of her orange juice and dialing Craig’s number on her Gryzzl phone.

* * *

Leslie Knope works hard for moments like this.  She watches from the steps of City Hall as teenagers and adults alike flooded the streets of Pawnee, screeching with excitement, faces stuffed with corn and ribs.  A few of the kids in their 20s wear red and hats with a green “L” shape in the middle.  All of them are frantically running around, catching Pokemon.  Leslie smiles unabashedly.  These numbers would break regional records for July 2016.

Leslie wanders through the streets from park to park, looking at the hundreds of smiling faces in each of her parks and at all of the local businesses.  This is why she does what she does.  To make people happy. 

At least, she thought they were happy, until she heard a bunch of young men fighting.  When she came over to see what the hubub was about, she realized that they were fighting about which team was better: red, blue, or yellow.

_ Some things will never change in this town _ , Leslie thinks.

**Author's Note:**

> This work is dedicated to the memory of Lil Sebastian. I hope you enjoyed!


End file.
